OAKLAND — A Bay Area man’s murder case was reduced to manslaughter at the start of his August preliminary hearing, without the defense attorney even having to lift a finger.

At the start of 25-year-old Alexander Northern’s preliminary hearing, an Alameda County prosecutor announced the District Attorney’s office wouldn’t be seeking a holding order for murder, but rather voluntary manslaughter. Up until that point, Northern had been charged with murdering his roommate, who indisputably attacked Northern first by spraying him in the face with cleaning chemicals, court records show.

Last February, Northern, a library aide in Alameda at the time, was arrested and accused of beating Wai Tsui during an argument about loud music in the Oakland home the two men shared with two other roommates. N

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